Department of Energy • Office of Science • Biological and Environmental Research1 CESD Overview
Objective● Study the impacts of dust on the North
American summer monsoon system
Approach● WRF-Chem is used to conduct numerical
experiments over 15 years using the MADE/SORGAM aerosol scheme coupled with the GOCART dust emission scheme
● Simulations performed for April-September 1995-2009 at 36 km horizontal resolution with and without dust
Impact● Simulated dust concentration and AOD
compared well with observations● Dust from the U.S. Southwest deserts
induces surface cooling of 1 W m-2 and atmospheric heating of 0.4 W m-2
● Dust heating of 0.3 K day-1 in the lower atmosphere strengthens the low-level meridional winds, leading to a 10-40% increase in the NAM precipitation
Desert Dust Impact on the Summer Monsoon System over Southwestern North America
Zhao C, X Liu, and LR Leung. 2012. “Impact of the Desert Dust on the Summer Monsoon System Over Southwestern North America,” Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 12, 3717-3731, DOI:10.5194/acp-12-3717-2012.
Dust induced diabatic heating over the desert (contours) and precipitation changes over Texas and New Mexico.
Dust induced change of zonal and meridional moisture fluxes in the monsoon system.